Isaiah l



(No Model.)

I. L. ROBERTS. PROCESS OF PRESERVING GARBIDS. No. 601,064. PatentedMar6Z2,1898.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFIC ISAIAH L. ROBERTS, OF NIAGARA FALLS, NEWYORK, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF,

AND EDWARD N. DICKERSON, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

PROCESS OF PRESERVING CARBIDS.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0. 601,064, dated March22, 1898.

Application filed November 24, 1897 To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ISAIAH L. ROBERTS, of Niagara Falls, in the countyof Niagara and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Processes for Preserving Carbids in Shipment, of whichthe following is a full, true, and exact description, reference beinghad to the accompanying drawing, forming a part of the same.

My invention relates to a process of preserving carbids in vesselsduring, shipment.

At present carbids, as carbid of calcium, are shipped in vessels or ironcylinders in lumps or masses, the interstices between theirregularly-shaped piecesbeing filled with air. This air contains'moreor less moisture and generates acetylene gas from the carbid andproduces an explosive mixture, more or less explosive as the aircontains more or less moisture. In the handling of the vesselscontaining the carbids this explosive mixture of gases becomes a sourceof danger by reason of the fact that a concussion of the pieces ofcarbid caused by the vessel falling or by rough handling will generate aspark or heat of friction sufficient to ignite the mixture and cause anexplosion. I have discovered that if the air be expelled from the vesselcontaining the carbids this danger is obviated, and if the furtherprecaution be taken, which constitutes a part of this invention, ofsubstituting some matter to take up the space occupied by the air thedanger of explosion is placed beyond possibility. Therefore I propose toexpel the air from a vessel containing carbids and have the spacesbetween and round about the pieces of carbid filled with somelight'packing or cushioning material, such as wheat chafi or bran.Additionally to this I may charge the vessel containing the carbids andpacking material with a gas such as acetylene at non-explosivepressures, such as atmospheric pressure, hydrogen, nitrogen, carbonicoxid, or mixtures of these gases. Wheat-chaif or wheat-bran isespecially desirable for use as a packing material, as it is light andcheap and of considerable bulk, sixty pounds of wheat-chafi beingsuificient topack one thousand pounds of carbid. Besides this it has anadditional advantage of acting somewhat similarly to the Serial No.659,670. (No specimens.)

gauze of the safety-lamp by providing passages of connection betweendifferent parts of the vessel too small for the passage of flame.

Again, it does not contain and does not readily absorb moisture.

In the drawing I have shown in sectional elevation an apparatus forcarrying out my invention.

Referring to the drawing in detail, A represents a vessel containingcarbid in broken masses; B, the spaces not occupied by the carbid, beingfilled in with wheat-chad a. After filling the vessel with carbid andwheatchaff the head B is sealed on and acetylene or other gas is passedin from a holder C or by other means through an orifice a, at the topend or side of the vessel containingthe carbid, which has at the bottom,end, or side an opening a The gas, acetylene in the present instance,being lighter than the air, expels the air at the bottom and thus fillsthe vessel, when both orifices are sealed tightly.

I do not in this application. claim the preservation, broadly, of bodiesby surrounding them with a gas which does not combine with these bodies,nor do I claim, broadly, the prevention of the movement of bodies intransport by surrounding them with soft packing.

My invention is based upon the discovery, first, of the fact thatcalcium carbid in process of handling in shipment will generate a sparkbetween lumps of such carbid, which is a physical fact not to have beenanticipated, and, secondly, in a means of avoiding the explosion whichwould be caused by such spark due to the impact of the pieces of calciumcarbid; and it further consists in the simultaneous operation ofpreventing the initial spark by packing the carbid in such material aschad and of preventing a subsequent explosion, even if a spark should begenerated, by two means of prevention, the first due to the fact that anexplosion will not be carried through a mass of wheat-chaff even ifexplosive gas be mixed with it, the principle being in some respectsanalogous to that of Davys safety lamp, but I claim to have been thefirst to discover that such explosion would not pass through a compactbody of wheat-chaff, and, secondly, as an additional safeguard I fillthe interstices between the particles of wheat-chaff with a nonexplosivegas. I thus simultaneously in this last method afford three safeguardsagainst explosion-the first by preventing the -ini-' tial spark;secondly, preventing the spread other dry and finely-divided vegetablebodies,

not containing free water to any material extent. If these bodies arenot dehydrated, they should be dried before use as a dividing or packingagent. It is obvious, of course, that such dividing or packing agent canbe used without the addition of the explosion-preventing gas.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,is-

1. The process'of preventing explosions in vessels containing materialscapable of generating gas explosive when mingled with air, and ofgenerating a spark for firing such gas by friction among themselves,which consists in filling the interspace between the fragments of suchmaterial witha dehydrated dividing agent',which performs the doublefunction of preventing the formation of the gas and of holding thefragments firmly so as to prevent the formation of an exploding-spark,substantially as described.

2. The process of preventing explosions in vessels containing carbids inshipment, which consists in filling the interstices between thefragments of carbid with a dehydrated dividing agent, and incharging thevessel with a gas which when combined with the acetylene generated fromthe carbid by any moisture in the vessel forms a non-explosive mixture,

substantially as described.

3. The process of preventing explosions in vessels containing materialscapable of generating gas, explosive when mingled with air, and ofgenerating a spark for firing such gas by friction among themselves,which consists in filling the interspace between the frag ments of suchmaterial with dehydrated by friction among themselves, which consists infilling the interspace between the fragments of such material withdehydrated wheat-chaff serving as a dividing agent, which performs thedouble function of preventing the formation of the gas and of holdingthe fragments firmly so as to prevent the formation of anexploding-spark, and then hermetically sealing the vessel, substantiallyas described.

5. The process of preventing explosions in vessels containing carbids inshipment, which consists in surrounding the carbid in the vessel withdehydrated wheat-chaff which serves as a dividingagent-and prevents thespread of an explosionthrough the vessel, in then filling theinterstices of the wheat-chaff with a gas which does not form an explosivemixture when mingled with the acetylene in the vessel, and in finallyhermetically sealing the vessel, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ISAIAH L. ROBERTS.

Witnesses:

AUGUSTUS HIBANDEAU, E. F. PRICE.

